Engagement
Class engagement is worth up to 30 extra credit points. There are two kinds of engagement, group and individual, which are worth 20 and 10 points of extra credit, respectively.
Group Engagement¶
Group engagement is worth up to 20 points. Each group has 2 or 3 members. Your group assignment is here: https://
Artcle Summary¶
The article summary is worth up to 10 points. Starting in Week 2, one group each week will find an article on a current macroeconomic topic/event and summarize it for the class. They will post their summary as a note in the “summaries” folder on Piazza by noon on the due date: https://
Suggested sources: BBC, Bloomberg, Forbes, MarketWatch, WSJ, New York Times, The Economist, NPR/PBS news hour, Financial Times, Washington Post, or an academic journal. Others may be OK, but please check with me first. Everyone should subscribe to these:
Suggested topics: monetary policy (interest rates, balance sheets, exchange rates, changes to currency), fiscal policy (federal government revenues, taxation, consumption, investment, deficits, loans/debt), labor markets (unemployment, wages, hiring), households (consumer confidence, income, consumption, housing market, loans/debt). Others may be OK, but please check with me first.
The article/event can be for any country/economy, but it must be macroeconomic (i.e., an economic issue that affects the whole country/economy and not just a single industry/company/group of people).
The article should be reported/researched (i.e., not a pure opinion column/piece).
The article should refer to aggregate data and relate to this class.
The article must be sufficiently different from those previously summarized. If you’re not sure if it is different enough, please check with me first.
Print the article to PDF and attach it to the Piazza note so the rest of the class can read it.
Write a summary answering the following questions, and post it to Piazza with the article attached.
What is the topic/question? How is it related to this class?
What are the key takeaways?
Why is it interesting (to your group)?
Is there was an expert interviewed/quoted, if so, who are they and what are their credentials? What did they say?
What data does the article present/refer to?
Does the article present any tradeoff (i.e., benefits vs costs)? If so, what is the tradeoff?
Class Discussion¶
The class discussion is worth up to 10 points. I will assign a different group to lead a short discussion at the beginning of class.
Read the article and summary, and discuss with your group.
Create a slide presentation to present in 3-5 minutes.
Each group member should speak for (approximately) an equal time (1-2 minutes).
If you notice something the summary is missing or you would rather emphasize, feel free to do so, and this can start the discussion with the rest of the class.
Individual Engagement¶
Individual engagement is worth up to 10 points. To earn full pionts, you must engage 3 or more times this semester, e.g., you can ask/answer a question or participate in a discussion in class, in office hours, or on Piazza.
If you engage in class, please send me an e-mail ASAP after class with how you engaged.
If you engage on Piazza and use your real name, I will be able to see and record it myself so you do not need to notify me.
If you engage on Piazza anonymously, you will need to e-mail and let me know that was your post.
Once you get to 3 times, you do not need to let me know any more. I will update Bb with your engagement score so you know when you get to 3.
Your engagement only counts once per assignment, class, or visit to office hours.